Kentucky has to slow Igor Milicic Jr. to take down Tennessee in the Sweet 16

The Kentucky Wildcats have to defend Igor Milicic Jr. well to beat Tennessee.

Jan 28, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Igor Milicic Jr. (7) shoots a three-point basket against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images / Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

While the Kentucky Wildcats have beaten the Tennessee Volunteers twice, there has been one player who has played well twice against the Wildcats, and that is Igor Milicic Jr. In the first meeting between the two teams, Milicic scored 19 points, and in the second meeting, he scored 16.

Slowing Milicic will be Andrew Carr's main job in this game. The first time these two teams played, Carr only played one minute, and the second time, he wasn't playing healthy at all despite playing 19 minutes.

Now Carr is back to 100% and playing some of his best basketball of the season. Milicic is 7-12 from three against the Wildcats this season. In the two matchups between these teams, the Vols have only made 14 total threes, and Milicic made seven of them, so Kentucky needs to watch him out on the three-point line.

Chaz Lanier has been incredible in the NCAA Tournament so far, but he hasn't played his best against Kentucky, so the Wildcats would love to keep him quiet in this matchup. It won't be easy, as he has already scored 49 points in two games so far in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky is 2-0 against the Vols, even with Milicic playing good basketball in these games, but if Carr can defend him at a high level, it will help the Wildcats move on to the Elite Eight.

Defense is going to be very important for Mark Pope's team in this game, but they have been playing great on this end of the floor in March.